VA VA - Radford, 2 BlkInfant UP11893, UP118937, in a box recently buried in an unmarked grave near a cemetery, Nov'57

[Romulus]

Unidentified Person/NamUs #UP11893
9Male, Black/African American
Date Body Found: November 22, 1957
Location Found: Radford, Virginia
Estimated Age Range--

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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www.namus.gov

Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP118937
Male, Black/African American
Date Body Found: November 22, 1957
Location Found: Radford, Virginia
Estimated Age Range--

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Circumstances of Recovery: Infant 2 of 2 found in a box recently buried in an unmarked grave near a cemetery. Related to UP118937

 

[subaw0067]

Oh those poor babies

 

[Goecke]

I wonder if whoever buried them there has relatives buried in that cemetery. These could have been stillbirths and were buried because the family couldn't afford a proper burial or due to the stigma surrounding pregnancy loss at the time. I'm leaning towards very unfortunate circimstances as opposed to foul play, but of course anything is possible.

 

[Goecke]

VA Post in thread 'VA- Pulaski, BlkFem, 1-2, 137084, found buried in homemade box near cemetery. March 1956'

Jan 24, 2025

Two infants (probably twin boys) were found under near identical circumstances in the same county a year later.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

I can't help but wonder if the cases are connected.

• Goecke

• 

A little girl was found under the same circumstances in the same county the year before. I wouldn't be surprised if they were all connected.

 

[Susikatze]

VA Post in thread 'VA- Pulaski, BlkFem, 1-2, 137084, found buried in homemade box near cemetery. March 1956'

Jan 24, 2025

Two infants (probably twin boys) were found under near identical circumstances in the same county a year later.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

I can't help but wonder if the cases are connected.

• Goecke

• 

A little girl was found under the same circumstances in the same county the year before. I wouldn't be surprised if they were all connected.

Not necessarily connected, infant mortality was still high among the African American population in the early 1950s. Often, people were poor and could not afford an official burial in a cemetery or there were no regulations for infant burials, so one could just bury them on their own accord.

I do not think there was foul play involved. Those babies were fairly lovingly buried - would have been easier to just discard them, were they murdered.

 

[Goecke]

I wasn't aware that there weren't regulations for infant burials in the 1950s. I 1000% agree this is a case of a poor family who couldn't afford a proper burial as opposed to foul play, IMO.